On 9/10/2010 12:05 PM, P Kishor wrote: > This is my personal experience... > > On Fri, Sep 10, 2010 at 10:53 AM, Chris Marshall<[email protected]> wrote: >> In another thread, the recommendation to build >> perl modules (e.g., PDL) *not* using the system >> perl came up again. >> >> My experience is that for maximum portability >> and testability you usually want to build >> against the "official OS perl" in the >> "official OS location". That way other users >> and developers can reproduce your build >> environment which is needed to diagnose and >> fix bugs. > > If the above is the intent, then yes, building PDL against a > "reference" platform is desirable, in fact, mandatory. And, the system > Perl is definitely the best reference. > > However, if any work with PDL is desired, then my personal experience > is that building one's own Perl and then PDL against it is better > because -- > > 1. Most importantly, I don't bugger up the system Perl inadvertently, > thereby bringing the rest of my work to a standstill.
Maintaining your own perl module/lib prevents this problem (that is why this is the solution when one doesn't have rw access to system files and directories). > 2. I learn what goes where. Unclear what the benefit is to PDL users though. > 3. I am able to build all the little variations that my own work might > require. Still possible with your own module directory. Although, if you need specific bleeding edge perl features that would justify a hand-built perl. Again, this is not an issue for new PDL users or want-to-be users. > 4. The vendor's (Apple's) updates don't have any effect on my work > environment just as my work environment doesn't impinge upon the > vendor's software. Has Apple ever pushed a perl update on you that did not correspond to an OS version upgrade My experience is that the vendor stuff seems to advance fairly cautiously so they don't break things It is also not clear that the advantages from maintaining and supporting one's own perl outweigh the possible advantages, especially for PDL users or new PDL users. > PDL does have specific dependencies, so whether one is installing them > in /usr/local/ or in the system location (/usr), even the reference > platform is not going to be very standard from person to person, from > computer to computer. >> In addition, while building one's own perl is >> relatively straightforward, it is not something >> we should be recommending to PDL beginners nor >> is it something that should be required for >> PDL development. > > A PDL beginner is going to be an otherwise relatively savvy > Perl/computer user. PDL is not that easy, and someone how has never > worked with Perl or computers or programming is not going to jump into > PDL. So, it is not unreasonable to think that even a PDL beginner has > probably already installed software, including her/his own custom > Perl. PDL is a complex, powerful tool. I don't think PDL users should be linux/mac/windows system admins or perl programmers before they can use PDL. Much of MATLAB is written in Java but you don't need to know java to use MATLAB. perl is written in C but one does not need to know C in order to program in Perl. The impression that a PDL user needs to be a perl/system savvy hacker suggests that the install process is *far* from 1-click. >> For cygwin development, I've been successful >> with maintaining a personal module tree built >> using the system perl. >> >> Is this recommendation based on the limitations >> of the Mac OS X platform (I thought it was >> pretty much unix) or is this something other >> users and developers should be recommended >> to do? > > > Nothing Mac specific. I (personally) think it would be a good > recommendation for any platform. It would be nice if the PDL-user-must-be-a-computer-hacker and install their own everything could be compared with the alternative of maintaining a separate perl module dir on Mac OS X to see how much of these problems could be solved by the more simple alternative of setting PREFIX, LIB, and PERL5LIB in the right places. Cheers, Chris >> >> Cheers, >> Chris >> >> On 9/9/2010 10:12 PM, Tim Jenness wrote: >>> >>> It's not recommended to build modules using the system >> > Perl since Apple might change it at any time >> > (and you have to be careful to install the files >> > somewhere outside of /System or /Library). >> >> > It's always easier to build your own perl in /usr/local >> > or even your home tree. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Perldl mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://mailman.jach.hawaii.edu/mailman/listinfo/perldl >> > > > > > > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 9.0.851 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3126 - Release Date: 09/10/10 > 03:08:00 > _______________________________________________ Perldl mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.jach.hawaii.edu/mailman/listinfo/perldl
